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Factors that Helped Lenin Impose Communist Control in Russia 1917-1924
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Factors that Helped Lenin Impose Communist Control in Russia 1917-1924
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Propaganda
PROPAGANDA
Lenin renamed the Bolshevik Party as the Communist Party and tried to broaden its appeal to the mass of Russian people.
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The Civil War
General Opposition
- Lenin's activities in 1917 / 1918 were bound to make him enemies
- In 1918 he was shot by a social revolutionary agent
- In December 1918, he set up a secret police force called the "Checka" to crush his opponents
- By the end of 1918, a collection of 1918 "Anti Bolshevik" elements had united in attempt to crush the Bolsheviks
- This group became known as the "Whites" and they consisted of Enemies of the Bolsheviks from inside and outside of Russia
- Majority of the Bolshevik support remained in western Russia; the rest of the country supported the social revolutionary party
- Soon three separate "White Armies" were marching on western Russia creating a full civil war
Bolshevik Reaction
- The reaction was ruthless and determined as the Bolsheviks wanted to keep power
- Leon Trotsky created a new Red Army of over 300,000 men
- Trotsky ensured Loyalty by holding the soldier's families hostage and by appointing political commissars to watch over them
- The secret police made sure that nobody in Bolshevik territory was communicating with the Whites
- There were many beatings, hangings and shootings of opponents or even suspects in what came to be known as the "Red Terror"
- The fighting was savage and both sides committed terrible acts of cruelty
- The people who suffered the most were the ordinary workers and the peasants in the areas where the fighting took place
Consequences of the Civil War
- The civil war had the disastrous effect on a population already devastated by over three years of WWI
- Prisoners of War were often tortured and killed, there was over 21 million deaths
- The fighting seriously hindered both agriculture and industry
- Dirt and rats lead to disease and there was a serious shortage of doctors and hospitals
- 1921 brought an extreme famine and at time food shortages were so extreme that the ration of bread fell to 30 grams a day
- Industrial production dropped and workers left the cities for the countryside hopping to find some food
- the famine caused over 5 million deaths
- Although the Reds won the civil war, they did not forget how close to defeat they had come for foreign enemies
- The communist government continued to remain suspicious of the western governments and the other countries continued to grow in suspicion of Russia
Causes of the Civil War:
- The Bolsheviks were able to seize power because their opponents were weak and poorly led
- Opponents were the "Whites", landowners, religious groups opposed to the Bolshevik capturing of church property, genuine royalists who wanted restoration of the Tsar regime
- several army officers loyal to the regime formed anti-communist armies
-the White army gained leaders
- The threat to the Bolshevik party was increased due to foreign intervention by France, Britain, USA, and Japan, who became annoyed with Lenins decision to make peace with Germany, and wanted Russia to remain in the war
- The countries sent weapons, British troops landed in Murnmansk in the north and a British-Japanese force landed in the East, British and French troops landed in the south
- The Czech legion also joined the anti-communism side, a unit of Czechs who had been captured during WW1, they too wanted Russia in the war
- The Czech legion took control of the Trans-Siberian Railway
The events of the Civil War:
- north-West forces of General Yudenich threatened Petrograd
- The British assisted him
- 1920, he was only a couple km of Petrograd, and was driven back after Trotsky's appearance at the front inspired Bolshevik forces
- South-west General Deniken was a threat. 1919 Deniken's advance on Moscow was stopped, 1920 his forces were destroyed
- Admiral Kolchak threatened from the east. He was extremely cruel filling "death trains" woth Red Army prisoners
- Kolchaks forces were defeated in 1919, and the leaders were arrested and shot
- The Poles invaded Russia in spring 1920, which went seriously wrong, and were driven back to the gates of Warsaw. The Poles and Russian signed the treaty of Riga in 1921
Disadvantages of the Whites
- The Whites were not united and were made up of many different groups with different aims
- They were widely spread and were unable to coordinate their campaigns against the Reds, and Trotsky was able to defeat them one by one
- They did not have much support from the people of Russia, and the peasants even supported the Reds more than they did the Whites
- They knew that if the Whites came to power, the landlords would also eventually return
- The Whites caused more suffering to the peasants than the Reds
Reasons for the Bolshevik's Success
- The Whites were defeated due to a combination of their own weaknesses and the strength of the Bolsheviks
- Their geographical location made cooperation between different armies difficult and lacked a single leader
- The generals were jealous of each other and did not coordinate their offensives
- The Reds never faced an attack by all their enemies at the same time
- Some White leaders were brutal and established a rule over their territories
- General Deniken killed 100,000 Jews in the Ukraine
- This "White Terror" encouraged the Russians to support the Russians especially after the landlords were given back their lands
- The Whites did not have one aim and were unwilling to sacrifice their interests to form a strong front
- The West provided them with weapons, but it made them appear as if they were under the control of foreign powers
- The Reds were fighting for a Russia free from foreign control
- The Bolsheviks controlled industrial centres and the railway network
- This enabled them to rush supplies and troops to any part under threat
- They had the key centres of Moscow and Petrograd, and were concentrated in a smaller area than the Whites
- They were fighting for a communist revolution
- They had high morale due to Trotsky's skills to organise and motivate, as well as the extensive use of propaganda, displaying them as defending Russia's national interests
- Trotsky's leadership proved that he was an effective leader
- He formed a new army and he conscripted officers into the army when there were not enough officers
- Cheka units in the countryside hanged, beat, shot and burned anyone who helped the Whites; the tsar's family was executed in case he was rescued and became a leader of the Whites
- Many Russians supported the Reds through fear, but some genuinely preferred them
- The majority of peasants were annoyed when the Whites returned land to the landowners
- Most of the workers did not want to return to a tsarist regime
- Though the Reds won the war, they did not forget how close they had to come to defeat by the foreign armies
- The communist government remained suspicious of foreign government
- Many communists believed they would be safe only if they helped bring the communist regime to other countries
- The Communist International was set up during the civil war to help set up communist parties in other countries and work for an international communist regime, which made the country even more suspicious to others
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Kronstadt Revolt
War communism made the communist government very unpopular
- Discontent among peasants led to violence in the
countryside
- In towns workers went on strike
Sailors at the Kronstadt naval base revolted because they accused the communists of breaking their promises of 1917 by failing to help the workers
The Kronstadt revolt made Lenin realize how unpopular War Communism was and that he had to improve the economic situation in Russia
- failure to do so might end in the overthrow of the
communist government
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The Cheka
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Cheka agents worked in factories, villages to spy on people
Anyone who was suspected to be anti communist would be arrested, captured and shot without a trial
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Said over 50,000 opponents of communism were arrested and excecuted
Cheka units in countryside hanged, beat, shot and burned anyone who fought for the whites
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CENSORSHIP
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The Cheka's agents worked in factories and villages all over Russia to spy on people. Anyone suspected of being anti-Communist would be arrested, tortured and could be shot without trial
• Peace treaty signed on March 3rd 1918 between new Bolshevik government of Russian and the Central Powers that ended Russian participation in WWI
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• Russia losses included 34% of population, 32% of agricultural land, and 54% of its industry, 26% of railways, 89% of its coal mines.
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- Countries sent weapons to Russia so the would renter the war
- Lenin knew Russia could not fight Germany while he fought opponents in Russia
- Bolsheviks had to survive against supporters of the Tsar
- Russian civil war lasted 3 years
- Created treaty called Brest - Litovsk
- Russia looses land and a 6th of population
- Lost large amounts of resources such as coal, iron, and farmland
- Countries such as Britain, France, Japan, and the USA were frustrated with Lenin
- Did not like that he exited the war and made peace with Germany
- He refused to pay the debts of the Tsar
- The Czech legion joined the "anti - communist crusade"
- They had previously helped fight on the Russian side
- They also wanted Russia back in the war
- Lenin wanted to end Russian involvement in the war
- Thought further participation would cause his party to be overthrow just like the PG had been
- Made peace negotiations with the German government (1918)
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